Afina Well appraisal just started, not complete yet - Springfield debunks claims

Ghanaian international oil and gas company, Springfield Exploration and Production Company, has debunked certain reports that the appraisal of its Afina oilfield in the West Cape Three Points does not support unitisation with ENI’s Sankofa field.

At a press conference in Accra yesterday, the CEO of Springfield, Kevin Okyere, described the claim as false and a mischievous attempt to scuttle the operation of a Ghanaian business.

According to him, the appraisal commenced a few days ago and was not yet completed for the company to have come out with any data to form the basis for the claim by ACEP.

“I would like to tell you that it is blatantly false. The rig for the appraisal got to Ghana a few days ago, and we just commenced implementation of the appraisal programme.

We are yet to acquire the relevant data from our appraisal activities, process the said data and submit our appraisal report,” he said.

He revealed that he had instructed his lawyers to take the necessary action against persons who made the false and mischievous claims.

“I understand that the lawyers are writing to him to apologise and rescind his false statement, if not, legal action will be taken against him soon,” Mr Okyere added.

Press conference 

In attendance were civil society organisations, representatives of partners of Springfield such as the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), GNPC Explorco, and contractors who work with the company, including Hulliburton Energy Solutions and Northern Ocean, the Norwegian operator of the Deepsea Bollsta rig, the rig that is being used for the appraisal.

Appraisal involves activities carried out on oil wells after exploration to determine the accumulation of petroleum and estimate the quantity of recoverable petroleum to help determine the commercialisation of the discovery and whether the fields straddle.

The appraisal by Springfield follows a ruling by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) that appraisal was an important element for unitisation and, therefore, Springfield ought to do further work to achieve that purpose.

The appraisal is in addition to seismic analysis already carried out by Springfield which showed that Afina and Sankofa shared identical reservoir to form the basis for the unitisation for optimal oil production.

“When Springfield drilled, we proved that the two wells share the same oil and this is the basis for the unitisation,” Mr Okyere said 

Law-abiding

However, Mr Okyere said as a law-abiding company, Springfield was conducting the appraisal in conformity with the arbitral tribunal award which insisted that appraisal ought to be done to complete the unitisation process.

“The tribunal ruled that once the appraisal is done, within six months, unitisation should be completed. What we are doing now is to do a test because the tribunal wants to see that the oil can actually flow up. The appraisal is being done in that regard,” he stated.

The CEO of Springfield E&P announced that the appraisal was expected to be completed within six weeks, which would facilitate the unitisation process, and help drastically improve the country’s oil production.

Importance

Giving further explanation, the Vice-President of Springfield in charge of Geosciences, Dr Thomas Manu, said the appraisal would enable the company to go back into the well and do further testing to show that the oil would flow.

“This operation is to enable us open up the well, take pressures again and make holes into the reservoir and allow the well to flow. We will measure the rate, shut it for a period of time, and let the pressure build up again. We will open it a number of times, and we believe we will satisfy the condition required by the arbitral tribunal,” he said.

For his part, a Senior Geophysicist at GNPC, Jerry Selorm D. Greenfields, expressed excitement at the pace with which Springfield was conducting the appraisal.

“Within the space of three months, we have been able to mobilise the rig. It is a feat that is hardly achieved even by the major companies. This will pave the way for us to take major decisions, and easily plan how we can develop it,” he added.

Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh